


better

by stxvetony



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, M/M, Not A Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 09:36:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18588583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stxvetony/pseuds/stxvetony
Summary: summary in notes due to endgame spoilers *





	better

**Author's Note:**

> HUGE AVENGERS ENDGAME SPOILERS * no actually if you haven't watched the movie yet PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU DO
> 
>  
> 
> ty my friends on twitter for keeping me up on spoilers bc i have no self control
> 
>  
> 
> summary :
> 
> steve thoughts during tony's funeral

 

Steve watched. It was the only thing he could seem to do these days in the aftermath of everything. He watched, he watched as the love of his life slipped away from him past the water, although he was never his in the first place.

 

The funeral was beautiful, and if perhaps he was a passerby looking from afar he would have been able to appreciate the details that it carried along with it, but Steve was if anything but a simple passerby. They were near a lake, all of them, what was left of the Avengers, the Guardians, Doctor Strange, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy. 

 

And yet, Steve had never felt so alone before. When he closed his eyes, all he saw was Tony, his eyes looking back at him as if he were the single most important thing in the world. As if nothing else mattered. 

 

When they first met. It was nothing but flying words being spit at one another across the room. Tony was fire, and Steve was ice and well, they didn’t match together, ideals clashing at one another, insults batting at each other in the perfect way to grow under each other’s skin. 

 

But as time went on, as Steve got to know the man behind the armor, the man who flew a nuke into the atmosphere, the man who often spent hours accompanying Steve to help him transition into the 21st century, Steve felt their friendship begin, albeit hesitant at first, but nonetheless present.  _ It was special, it was different, it was them.  _

 

Steve watched as the water glistened around them, a reminder that even in death, Tony Stark was beautiful, that everything he touched, he made anew. The first arc reactor was sitting there, on a wreath, the reminder of the trophy that Pepper had given, proof that he had a heart. 

 

And god, Tony Stark had the biggest heart, one that Steve could never think to emulate. A heart that captured Steve, a heart that trapped him, a heart that forgave him in the end. 

 

He watched it float away, and it wasn’t only an arc reactor floating away with the stream, wasn’t only a memorial of what Tony Stark used to be, but it was Steve Rogers floating away with him, his heart, his soul, his well being. 

 

And with Tony Stark, was the last of Steve’s will to stay here. Because Tony Stark was larger than life,  _ better  _ than every other shitty thing in the universe. And he held Steve in the future, when they were fighting, when they were apart, when they were  _ together.  _

 

Tony died loving the world, protecting it like only he knew how to. He died loving Steve, who he could never be with. 

 

And Steve turned around and walked away. He wanted more, god, he always wanted more. But it could never have been just them, the two of them together. They were a tragic love story, Romeo and Juliet, but so much deeper, bigger,  _ more.  _

 

Their love was the end of everything. But it was the beginning of so much more. 


End file.
